What would it take to open private markets to a much wider group of investors?
You can buy shares in a supermarket chain in a few taps.
But what about the private companies developing new approaches to healthcare, energy, food and technology? Most are not household names, and access to them has traditionally been limited to institutions and investors able to commit significant sums.
That question eventually brought Charles, Jay and me to the fourth floor of a coworking space overlooking Amsterdam’s canals, where we began turning my original idea for lumiors into something real.
Investing involves risks, regardless of the type of investment. You may lose some or all of your investment.
Investment decisions
During my career at the World Bank, I saw projects demonstrate results and still struggle to attract the next investor. It was not always a shortage of capital. Often, it was a shortage of confidence that success could be understood and repeated. Investing involves risks. Success is not guaranteed.
Understanding investment choices.
I began to see a similar gap for individual investors. There were various companies and specialist funds on one side, and people interested in investing on the other - but access was limited and the information was often difficult to navigate.
At the same time, more products were promoting environmental and social characteristics. The language could be compelling, but it was not always clear what sat behind the claims or what was actually being measured.
That was the idea that started lumiors: broader access to private markets, supported by clearer information about the investment approach, its environmental and social characteristics, and its limitations.
Turning the idea into lumiors
I brought my legal background and experience of start-ups and scale-ups to the challenge of turning the concept into a fund managed by a licensed manager. Charles and Jay worked with me to develop the technology, marketing and business model, and to establish relationships with potential partner funds.
It was not a straightforward process.
Much of the available investment technology had been built for funds accepting investments of six figures or more. Creating an investment journey beginning at €1,000 brought very different technological and operational requirements.
The three of us worked through the problem together, alongside Elite Fund Management, until we found an approach that could operate within regulatory and operational requirements.
It reinforced one of our earliest beliefs: It is not just the idea that matters, but also how it is put into practice.
What we heard
As we developed lumiors, we spoke to friends, family and colleagues. One message kept returning: financial performance matters, but many people would also like to understand what their money supports. Investing involves risks. Performance is not guaranteed.
How lumiors works
lumiors is a fund of funds. It invests in selected private equity funds rather than investing directly in individual companies. The minimum initial investment is €1,000, subject to eligibility and the fund’s terms.
The investment process considers financial criteria - Return on Investment - and the environmental or social characteristics promoted by an underlying fund, which we call Return on Impact. Together, we call this ROI². Both form part of the assessment before an investment is made and the subsequent monitoring process. Neither financial returns nor environmental or social outcomes are guaranteed.
lumiors is a sub-fund of the Alpha High Performance Fund, managed by licensed alternative investment fund manager Elite Fund Management.
It is classified under Article 8 of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation because it promotes environmental and social characteristics. Article 8 is a disclosure classification. It is not a sustainability label, a guarantee of impact or an indication that an investment is low risk.
Private equity is high risk, long term and illiquid. lumiors is intended for investors with a time horizon of at least ten years. It is not suitable for anyone who may need their money in the near future, and investors may lose some or all of their investment.
Access without understanding is not progress.
Our aim is to give a broader group of eligible investors a way to consider private markets - while being clear about how the fund works, what it assesses and the risks involved.
Marketing communication. Capital at risk. The investments of the Fund are not liquid. lumiors fund is registered with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets as an investment institution managed by Elite Fund Management (AFM Sub-fund ID 50039044). Refer to the prospectus and EID before making an investment decision. Further information: https://lumiors.com/information/.
